WASHINGTON (BP) -- Religious freedom should be a priority for U.S. relations with autocratic regimes in Sub-Saharan Africa, a Southern Baptist policy specialist told members of Congress Wednesday (May 9).

Steven Harris, a policy director for the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, called for the focus on religious liberty during his testimony to a House of Representatives subcommittee of the Foreign Affairs Committee. The hearing addressed the federal government's response to the increasing restrictions on religious groups, journalists and other sectors of civil society in countries such as Sudan, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. Read More

SHEPHERDSVILLE, Ky. (BP) -- Residents of drought-stricken Lesotho, Africa, became like family to 64-year-old Karen Smith of Shepherdsville, Ky., the first time she took them food.

"You go with expectations of doing a job and it quickly becomes more than a job. It becomes personal," Smith, volunteer feeding coordinator for the Kentucky Baptist Convention (KBC), told Baptist Press.

Kentucky Baptist Convention photo

Kentucky Baptist Convention photo

"That first little boy that came and sat in my lap, it stopped being a job. It began to be personal, because then I met moms and dads and just got to know the families."

Smith served on two of the six disaster relief teams the KBC has sent to southern Africa since 2016 in response to a drought affecting large swaths of sub-Saharan Africa. The U.N. has described the drought and famine, which extends into South Sudan and the greater Horn of Africa, as the largest humanitarian crisis since 1945. Read More

KIMUSU, Kenya (BP) -- Hunger and thirst often prevent members of Kamakowa Baptist Church in Kimusu, Kenya from attending worship, pastor Tom Ogalo Ngoya told Baptist Press in an appeal for aid to the country where drought is a national disaster.

"It's [disheartening] to watch your children beg for water and food," Ngoya emailed BP after Kenya's government declared the drought a national disaster in February. Members of the congregation "are often not in the church due to lack of food and water for them to drink and for the animals. Children are malnourished due to lack ... Read More

by Randy and Kathy Arnett, posted Wednesday, January 18, 2017 (2 years ago)

IMB Photo

IMB Photo

AFRICA (BP) -- Terror gripped Simon and his family. Their neighborhood mutt had howled and barked incessantly the previous night at the front door of their one-room home. Simon explained that the dog's behavior signaled an impending death in their household.

While many may simply dismiss Simon as foolishly superstitious, others would not. In fact, millions of people see the world as Simon does. ... Read More

In two major global cities, Jason Duesing of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary sees "pockets of light and safety" for people needing refuge. "For every act of terror in the world today, there are multiplied a thousand times over acts of sacrificial service and Gospel proclamation," Midwestern's provost writes.

In the 2016 version, many still are coming to them to save their life and, yet, they also are finding life. I observed this just weeks ago in two major global cities, both having been in the news in recent months for acts of terror and political instability.

Submitted photo

Submitted photo

The first in Central Asia was teeming with young professionals and, though centered in a Muslim culture, there were signs that the younger generation in this city were not much different than many in the West in terms of their tenuous devotion to their historic and national religion. At prescribed times throughout the day, prominent mosques would erupt in amplified calls to prayer. Yet, just as in some of our Western cities where church bells ring out from massive and mostly vacant cathedrals, the normal course of business is for the people not to pause for genuflection, but to carry on with head bowed toward their smartphone. Read More

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) -- The shantytowns of Cape Town, South Africa, could be among the initial disaster relief deployments for the Baptist Union of Southern Africa.

In a partnership with the Kentucky Baptist Convention facilitated by the Baptist Global Response humanitarian organization, the Baptist union's disaster relief ministry is in the early stages of development, according to reports by the KBC Kentucky Today news site and KBC Western Recorder newsjournal. Read More

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (BP) -- While anti-immigrant violence was tearing their city apart, 150 believers at a small Baptist church stood together to ask God to bring peace to their country.

An elder at the church in Johannesburg, South Africa, called out the ethnic groups by name: white South African, Zulu, Xhosa, Tswana, Mozambican, Zimbabwean and a dozen more. Everyone stood -- black and white, young and old, joining hands across the aisles and singing together, "We are one in the spirit." Read More

IBADAN, Nigeria (BP) -- Nominal Christianity fueled by a lack of discipleship is a major obstacle in standing against Boko Haram's persecution of believers in Nigeria, a leader of more than 10 million Baptists in Africa told Baptist Press.

Yet, Baptists in Nigeria still manage to teach the Gospel at refugee camps and other locations where 1.5 million have been displaced by Boko Haram violence, said Durosinjesu Ayanrinola, general secretary of the All Africa Baptist Fellowship of 62 unions and conventions from 33 African countries. Read More

JOHANNESBURG (BP) -- Ebola has struck fear in many Americans considering mission trips to the continent of Africa within the last few months. Many churches are cancelling trips, even to countries not affected by the disease, Southern Baptist mission workers report. Only a few congregations continue to push forward with sharing the Gospel there. Read More

Formed in 1946 by the Southern Baptist Convention, and supported with Cooperative Program funds, Baptist Press (BP) is a daily (M-F) international news wire service. Operating from a central bureau in Nashville, Tenn., BP works with four partnering bureaus (Richmond, Va.; Atlanta, Ga.; Nashville, Tenn.; and Washington, D.C.), as well as with a large network of contributing writers, photographers and editorial providers, to produce BP News.